Three King City officers plead not guilty

Three former or current King City police officers were arraigned on criminal charges on Thursday.

Former police chief Dominic "Nick" Baldiviez and officer Mario Mottu Sr. pleaded not guilty to embezzlement charges. Baldiviez is accused of illegally signing over to Mottu a city-owned vehicle.

Their attorneys, Tom Worthington and Richard Rosen, respectively, said the men had approval from the City Council to transfer ownership of the car, a 2001 Crown Victoria patrol car that was being disposed of by the city. Mottu then worked on his own, they said, to restore the car as a souped-up police low-rider used for show purposes.

"You don't steal a car, then put it in a police parade," Rosen said.

The attorneys wanted it made clear their clients' arrests had nothing to do with the simultaneous arrests of three others charged with involvement in an alleged operation in which the cars of low-income, unlicensed drivers were impounded then seized when the owners were unable to pay the impound fees.

The people arrested on those charges were Bruce Miller, who was the acting police chief, Sgt. Bobby Carrillo and Miller's brother, Brian Miller, owner of Miller's Towing. They made their first court appearances on Monday and will return to enter pleas on March 18.

Baldiviez and Mottu are not charged with the auto-impound conspiracy, their lawyers stressed, and are not guilty of unlawful intent or behavior.

They will return to court on March 26 for setting of a preliminary hearing.

Officer Mark Baker pleaded not guilty Thursday to separate charges of threatening great bodily injury to a King City resident. His preliminary hearing will be set March 19.

A sixth officer, Jaime Andrade, is charged with illegal possession and storage of an assault weapon. He will be arraigned March 17. The six were arrested before dawn on March 25 after a wide-ranging investigation by the District Attorney's Office.